The Sleep of Innocence
by Reyuna
Summary: Darkness spreads over all, consuming and corrupting. Noxaria's world vanishes, but she is not all that remains. Taken in by The Organization, little does she know that her past is hunting her. Who is to blame for the fall of innocence? slight OCxXaldin
1. Prologue

Sleep of Innocence – Prologue

The lights of Lost Mirage seemed to grow brighter each night as one by one the stars disappeared from the night sky. With the passing days the surrounding desert grew darker and darker, making the city glow like a single flame in a deep and endless cave. But the townspeople remained unafraid so long as the lights of Dai Faalka burned brightly.

The grand palace of Dai Faalka had stood at the heart of the city since before the time of records. Every night, a thousand lights burned from every window, tower, and turret, making the palace sparkle like a ruby in the sun. The lights of Dai Faalka could be seen for miles upon miles, guiding lost travelers to a safe haven and warning against fiends that prowled the night. In times of trouble and conflict, the lights reassured the people of Lost Mirage that they were safe: as long as the lights danced, all was well.

But now, for the first time in its long and glorious history the lights of Dai Faalka were going out.

Bare feet shuffled softy but quickly across the stone floor.

"Another one – in the west tower, my lady!"

"Another?!"

The feet abruptly turned a corner and bounded up the nearest staircase. The stone grew colder as girl ran higher, but she barely noticed. Her only thought was of the flickering torch in her hand.

She knew it was true before she reached the top of the stair – there was no light to guide her to the tower's peak. Sighing, the young woman ran a hand over the metal basin that should have held one of the thousand sacred flames of Dai Faalka. For the thirteenth time that night, she lowered the torch to the basin to reignite a fire that should never have gone out. The flame leapt to life in a bust of yellow; it pitched and flickered in the wind, but did not go out.

Finally taking a minute to catch her breath, the young woman leaned against the tower wall and turned her blue-gray eyes to the ebony sky. As she took a shuddering breath, another star vanished into the darkness. Night by night more stars disappeared, and night by night more palace lights were snuffed out by an unseen force, as if the flames were reflections of the heavenly bodies above.

Unable to bear the sight of the darkening sky, she young woman turned her gaze to the vast city below. A few lights flickered here and there: wives anxiously waiting for their husbands or children too scared to sleep in the dark. Her eyes ran over the streets and alleys that stretched away from Dai Faalka into the darkness, searching the edges of the blackness. The far edges of the city were darker than the blackest night, and those shadows seemed to writhe and breathe, twisting and growing, swallowing the city little by little.

And _he_ was out there fighting it.

She nervously twisted a strand of her long, brown hair around her finger and closed her eyes, as if to make her worries vanish.

"Julian…" she whispered to the desert night.

"Yes, Lady Oriana?" came the sudden reply from behind her. With a start, the girl whirled around as her eyes few open, revealing the figure of a man with sun-darkened skin in a blood-darkened uniform. Seeing the worry flash across her face, the man quickly gave a calming smile. "I'm not hurt," he assured her as he stepped forward to share the girl's view of the city. "Though," his smile faded a bit, "I'll admit that makes me one of the lucky ones."

Oriana sighed with relief and ran a hand through the man's dark, shaggy hair. "I wasn't sure this time…" she whispered shakily, "The palace lights keep going out...I-I've been trying to keep them lit, but…"

"You did well," he assured her. "I could see the lights even from the thick of the shadows." He paused and brushed his hand across her cheek. "They guided me back to you."

The two just stood there, content to simply be together, even if only for a little while. In this time of crisis, fathers were separated from sons, brothers from sisters, and husbands from wives. And Oriana was separated from Julian. It was not unusual for the two to be apart, as Julian was often sent on missions far from Lost Mirage, but now Oriana was more worried about him than ever, even though he and his company did not go beyond the edges of the city.

A faint scream floated up with the night breeze, so faint that before the Shadow Oriana would have dismissed it as an animal or wild imaginings – but she had heard the sound far too many times now to recognize it as anything else. Neither one of them acknowledged the dreadful sound, but Oriana softly asked, "How are the people faring?" Julian stared at the ground. "They are losing hope," he replied quietly. "The Shadow is… pulling them in."

"Has the Shadow broken through our forces that easily?" Oriana gasped. Julian turned from her and glared at his own hand, which gripped the balcony railing with undue tenacity.

"No…no that's not what I meant. Oriana…they are _giving_ themselves to the darkness."

Oriana blinked and cocked her head to the side like a confused bird. Such a thing was -- she must have misheard…"W-what do you…?" she managed.

"They think it's hopeless." Julian explained, trying to keep his voice even. "They think it's better to join this entity than to die fighting it."

Oriana clutched the balcony railing and leaned over, as though to be closer to the city. _They are losing hope…how can I…what can I…?_ She turned to Julian. "There must be something I can do. Anything." she said firmly.

Julian's dark eyes locked with hers. "There is," he answered. "I have a plan to put a stop to this. Our society is poisoned with fear and weakness; I intend to cut out that infection."

"C-cut out?" she asked warily. "Would….would it not be better to find a _cure_ for this poison?"

Julian shook his head. "There's no time," he muttered, "The more people who loose faith and give in, the stronger the Shadow becomes…and the less the chance of survival becomes for us all. We must end this _now _– no matter the cost." Julian's eyes shown with fierce determination and his face, lit only by the sacred flame pitching in the wind, suddenly looked strange and unfamiliar to Oriana. She took the smallest step back from him.

"Y-you can't be suggesting – the Council would surely never approve -- " she stuttered.

"The Council has done all they can do and it isn't enough," Julian said firmly. He shook his head impatiently. "This is no time for councils and debates, Oriana. This is the time for action."

As he spoke, Oriana felt a chill run up the back of her neck that had nothing to do with the cold night wind. She hesitated, then reached out and grabbed his hand. "Please – don't do anything rash Julian," she pleaded. "If you won't speak with the Council, then at least seek the advice of my father! I – I can arrange a meeting first thing tomorrow!"

For a moment Oriana was certain that Julian would pull his hand away and storm off, but suddenly his expression softened and he grasped her other hand gently.

"All right," he said with a tired smile. "If you think it's that important, I'll meet with him first."

He pulled her close and their lips met.

"As long as there is light in this world, there is hope," he whispered in her ear, "You are my light."

Their time together was always brief and soon Oriana was alone again on the balcony with her thoughts and the desert wind. She took a last look at the night sky before heading inside. There were dark clouds rolling in from the east, blocking out the remaining stars. She sighed. A storm was coming.


	2. Welcome to Purgatory

The Sleep of Innocence

Chapter 1: Welcome to Purgatory

The light faded. All turned to darkness. Then even the darkness ceased to be.

_What is this…? This is…_

Nothing.

Blue-gray eyes slowly opened to blue-gray clouds obscuring both sun and stars.

_Is it day? Is it night?_

Long dark brown hair stood in contrast to a plain white dress. Bare feet lay in a murky puddle. A cold rain sputtered down from the clouded heavens.

_Heaven? A bit far off, aren't you, Oriana?_

Oriana…The name did not feel right. Or rather, the name felt right but _she_ felt wrong, like ice that had melted into water - though it was the same substance, you could not call water "ice". Thus, "Oriana" did not suit this being lying in the rain-soaked streets of a cold, dark city.

The girl tried to get up, but even though she felt strangely empty inside, it seemed to her that her body was too heavy to move. As she lay there in frozen misery, she tried to make out her surroundings. A cold grey wall lay before her, a torn flyer for some long-gone festival barely clinging to it. Beyond the wall there seemed to be a sea of dark buildings, but she could only make out an outline of black against a grey sky. Where were the lights? Where were all the people?

She wasn't sure how long she laid there…minutes, hours, days…time did not seem to exist any more. Eventually the rain grew heavier. What had once been a mere drizzle was now a torrent. The girl was sure she was shaking with the cold, and yet she could not so much as lift her head. The raindrops grew thick and ice cold; they stung as they hit her bare skin. The murky rainwater soaked into her dress and grey-brown began to seep over pure white.

_Am I trapped in some kind of nightmare?_

As the girl lay in a mix of confusion, rain water, and emptiness, tears began to fill her eyes, blurring the silhouette of buildings in the distance…and something else. A dark obscure shape was coming towards her. Now the girl shook with both cold and…it was not quite fear, so much as a sense of unbelieving indignation. Was this it? Terminated in a dark alley in god-knows-where by who-knows-what with the rather unfair disadvantage of being completely immobile?

_No…not like this…_

As the shape came closer, the girl could see that it was a person in a hooded black cloak running towards her. Slowly she closed her eyes. She had a feeling that this was the beginning of something strange and terrible.

But suddenly the rain was no longer striking the girl, and she felt a gloved hand on her shoulder. Her eyes opened cautiously. A worried face, blurred by her tears, swam before her. Two vibrant aqua eyes stared back. He seemed to be a young man, not much older than she.

_Perhaps…I'm in Purgatory and this is the angel of death, come to send me one way or the other._

But when the boy spoke, he certainly did not sound like a celestial being. "I-I'm so sorry it took me so long to find you!" he sputtered. "I mean, I don't know why they sent me; I'm still pretty new myself! A-are you okay?"

As he helped her sit up against the wall she found that she could now move her head and arms a bit. She noticed the boy had draped his coat over her like a blanket, and she pulled it tighter around herself.

"I…I'm sorry." The boy said again. "When a Nobody is born, all the lights in the city go out…makes it kinda hard to find you, you know?"

"Nobody…?" the girl whispered. Why did it feel like the first word she had ever spoken?

"Er, yeah," said the boy, trying to force a comforting smile. He scratched the back of his head. "Look, I'm not very good at explaining this – I don't understand it very well myself – but basically you, er, have no heart now. If you're here, it means your heart is lost to the darkness."

"No…heart?" Her mind did not resist the idea. In fact it felt right, like a puzzle piece had just fallen into place.

"Yeah," the boy continued, "the Heartless steal hearts, and sometimes the shell of the person is left behind – but without hearts, we can't really feel emotion. We just sort of remember what it was like…" A sad, distant expression crept across the blonde's face - it didn't seem to suit him, though perhaps it was because, as the boy had said, there was no true emotion in it.

"Can you feel it?" he asked, pointing at the place on his chest where his heart should be. Oriana placed her own hand to her heart, but she knew that what the boy really meant was not a pulse, but the feeling inside. It felt like she had lost something she had just been holding tightly, something that was supposed to be there, and if she checked her pockets once more, perhaps she would find it. The boy gave her a look that said he knew just how she felt.

"But don't worry," the blonde continued, "We can get back what we lost. At least, that's what Xemnas says."

Before she could ask any questions the boy sat up in sudden alarm. "Xemnas! Ah man, I gotta get you back to the castle! It is _not_ a good idea to keep the Superior waiting."

He helped her up. Her legs wobbled uncertainly like a newborn giraffe, and she leaned heavily on the boy. He smiled sympathetically. "Don't worry, it gets easier," he assured her. "It's tough getting used to a new body."

_New body? C-can this really be happening to me? Why don't I remember anything?_

The boy put out his hand as though commanding some invisible force and suddenly a dark shadowy vortex appeared before them. The girl backed up slightly.

_The darkness…they came from the darkness!_

"It's all right," said the boy, gently leading her to the swirling mass of shadows. "You have no heart now…there's nothing for the darkness to corrupt." Reluctantly, she allowed the boy to lead her into the portal. The darkness enveloped the two, rushing, swirling, spiraling down. But out of the depths of that darkness there was something calling to her, very distantly - something was reaching for her –

The darkness vanished as suddenly as the boy had called it. They now stood in a room with high white walls facing a large silver door. "Um, are you okay?" the boy asked gently, "I know – it's weird the first few times but it's really convenient when you get used to it."

The girl realized she had a veritable death grip on the boy's arm and quickly let go. "Um…did you hear…?" she began.

The boy cocked his head. "Hear what?" he asked.

"Oh, uh, never mind then." she mumbled.

"Okay," said the boy, "Right now you need to meet with Xemnas so uh…it's been nice knowin' ya!" He gave an awkward, nervous sort of laugh but the girl just stared at him, confused. "Right," he mumbled, "Well, I'm supposed to go help Vexen with something now so…"

"W-wait! You're leaving me?" the girl asked softly, clinging to his shirtsleeve.

The boy looked surprised for a minute, then smiled. "Hey, I'll be back! And don't worry, I'll show you around; it's really easy to get lost here." He began to walk away, then suddenly turned back. "Just…knock before you go in," he added.

"Um…I never got your name!" the girl called after him.

"Demyx," he replied without turning around. He disappeared down the hall with a brisk but fluid walk.

The girl stared after him for a bit, then turned to face the door. The high walls and huge entryway made her feel very small indeed. Somehow, she felt that that was the intent. A sense of apprehension came over her and she held her breath and knocked softly three times. There was a pause, then – "Enter," a low voice commanded. The door swung open of its own accord and the girl stepped slowly forward.

Before her was a huge, high-ceilinged room dominated by an enormous window on the opposite wall. Outside the window it was night, and a pale heart-shaped moon cast an eerie glow into the room. She was instantly drawn to the moon, and became so transfixed by its glow that she failed to notice the man sitting at a large silver desk in front of the window.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" asked a deep emotionless voice.

Jarred from her trance, the girl looked around and instantly spotted the voice's owner. The man behind the desk had tan skin and long silver hair that spiked in some places like a mane or crown. He was wearing the same black cloak the boy had been wearing.

"That," the man gestured casually at the moon, "is Kingdom Hearts…or rather, it soon will be. But before we talk of that, come, sit."

Though he seemed polite, it felt more like a command than an invitation. The girl quickly sat down in a small, uncomfortably straight, silver chair placed before the desk. The man (she assumed he must be Xemnas) remained standing and paced before the window a few times, occasionally glancing between the girl and the moon.

"Welcome to Purgatory," Xemnas finally announced grimly as he gestured to the dim city below, "Better known as The World that Never Was: a world of shadows and nothingness befitting creatures such as ourselves." He glanced at her appraisingly. "Do you know what you are?" he asked with what might have been a condescending smirk.

"I…I am…Nobody," the girl answered slowly, staring down at the floor.

"Ah, so Number IX is capable of a simple task after all," Xemnas mused with obvious mock-surprise. He resumed his emotionless demeanor and continued. "Yes, you are a Nobody. One with no heart and no feelings, trapped between life and death, doomed to one day fade into oblivion."

The man's grim prognosis felt like the death sentence she had been expecting since appearing in this world, and the girl blankly stared at the floor. A look of satisfaction flashed across Xemnas' face, but only for a second. "Unless…" he waited for the girl to look up at him before he continued. She met his confident yellow-eyed stare with a vacant expression. "Unless you can find your heart again."

The girl felt a pull, a longing, in the place where her heart should be. The emptiness was calling out, calling for her lost heart. "How?" she asked.

"Kingdom Hearts," Xemnas answered grandly, waving a hand towards the heart-shaped moon once more, "The heart of all worlds. Once it is complete, Kingdom Hearts will grant us our hearts and we will be whole once more." He gazed up at the moon, a hungry look etched across his face.

"We…?" the girl asked timidly, not wanting to interrupt his reverie.

"Yes. The Organization." He turned back around to face her. She wished he hadn't – his gaze was intimidating, to say the least. "We currently have eleven members, all Nobodies trying to regain their hearts. If you join us, it would make an even dozen," he added in a disinterested tone.

"And…if I don't want to join?" she asked, trying to avoid his relentless stare.

"That would be quite…unfortunate," Xemnas answered darkly.

_Why…? Why me? Why was __**my **__heart stolen? Am being punished for something? _

"I…I see. So, um, what would I have to do as part of this…Organization?"

"Command Heartless and Nobodies, find creatures we can turn to our cause, hunt down any useful research on the heart...and there is a boy, Sora…" he trailed off, an unreadable expression on his face. "Well, I shall explain in further detail when the time comes. But now, will you join us?"

_Those don't sound like things I'd be very good at…still, it doesn't seem that I have much choice. Besides, I have nowhere else to go…_

"Yes," the girl replied, meeting Xemnas' gaze with what courage she could muster. "I'll join."

A deadly triumph shone in Xemnas' eyes. "A wise decision," he said with a smug grin. The girl couldn't help but think he looked like a cat who had just captured a mouse. "Oh yes, what is your name?" he asked dismissively.

"Oriana," she replied, though it still felt incorrect.

Xemnas shook his head. "That," he said, "is who you were. I believe you are now…Noxaria. Yes, Number XII – Noxaria. And I am Xemnas, Number I and Superior of the Organization." The authority he placed in those words frightened her a bit. "You are dismissed. I shall send for someone to lead you to your room."

As she stood up and turned to leave, Xemnas suddenly grabbed her by the wrist. His grip was painfully tight, his fingers like ice; Noxaria let out a small gasp of pain and surprise. "Noxaria," he said with a deadly glare as he pulled her face within inches of his, "Don't disappoint me." The girl faintly bobbed her head and Xemnas released her.

It took all the self-control she had to keep from running from the room.


	3. With Any Luck

The Sleep of Innocence

Chapter 2: With Any Luck

_The fire raged all around her, but it was the only light left – no more sun, no more stars. And there was a man just visible through the flickering light and acrid smoke, a man in a blood-red cape. _

_He was laughing at the starless sky, the crackling flames reflected in his wide, crazed eyes. Blood dripped from his sword, as red as the dancing fire._

_He shouted something to the sky, and a maniac grin spread across his face. _

_She knew she was shouting back, but her words were lost in the roaring flames._

_Then the man slowly turned his wide-eyed stare to her._

_His smile faded._

Noxaria's eyes flashed open. The images still swam around in her head, but as usual the man's face slipped through her fingers.

Vexen had told her that she would be able to remember him eventually. She would remember everything eventually, but from what she had seen so far, she wasn't sure she wanted to. However, she couldn't decide what was worse – the nightmarish memories, or the waking nightmare of her current situation.

It had been two weeks since she had found herself lying in a cold dark alleyway of The World That Never Was, and she hadn't learned much except the names and temperaments of the other members of the Organization.

She stuck close to Demyx, and followed him around like a duckling. He had introduced her to the other members, or at least those who were readily approachable and not off on missions. She had been advised to steer clear of Marluxia, who, despite being a recent addition to the Organization, had already gained the respect (or in some cases fear) of the other members. And after a rather perilous training session with Saix, Noxaria determined that avoiding Number VII would be equally advisable. The rest of the Organization seemed more or less agreeable, though she had yet to meet Xaldin and had not really spoken with Lexaeus (though it seemed that no one really did).

As she was not allowed to leave the castle until she could manifest and control her powers, she had spent a good deal of time with Vexen, helping him with research and experiments. She had never been good at chemistry or alchemy – she was at least sure about that part of her past – but she was a natural at math and organizing things and so was at least somewhat useful to the scientist.

And as her combat training had not left her entirely unscathed, Noxaria also came to know him as the Organization's resident doctor.

Each of the Organization members had an elemental power and could call forth a unique weapon – Noxaria had yet to discover hers, and until she did she was being presented with closer and closer near-death experiences. How things had seemed to work with the other members was that when put in dangerous situations, their powers had kicked in as a natural defense. Every day Noxaria watched the others training, pitting their incredible powers against each other in epic battles, as if it were nothing more extraordinary than pouring a cup of coffee.

"Coffee…" she mumbled into her pillow.

Nobodies did not really require food or drink, but old habits died hard and thus the castle had a small kitchen stocked with nothing more exotic than bread, potato chips, and ground coffee.

Stumbling out of bed, Noxaria grabbed her coat and headed down the hall with the tipsy shuffle of one who is either drunk or half asleep. Though she had learned to use the corridors of darkness, there was something unsettling about the experience. When she was immersed in the void, she could hear a familiar voice calling out to her, but it was so faint she almost thought it was her imagination…almost. So whenever she could, she simply walked where she needed to go.

She knew before she pushed the kitchen door open that she was not alone. And sure enough, standing at the counter with a teapot in one hand and a mission assignment in the other was a man in a long black coat with short, pale-blonde hair.

"My, my, aren't we up early…or is it late?" Luxord asked without turning around.

"Oh…um…is it?" asked Noxaria. She still had no idea how the others could tell – there was no sun and no moon (unless you counted the half-formed Kingdom Hearts) and the only indication that time had ever even existed in this world was a large, broken clock tower on the other side of the city, the hands frozen at 1:13.

"It is, in fact," said Luxord, "Though in this world," he waved the mission sheet, "it's already late afternoon. Honestly, how am I supposed to know when to take afternoon tea?" He laughed, "Though since time _is_ my element, I suppose that shouldn't be much of a problem!"

Noxaria scowled, wishing that finding the proper tea time was the extent of her problems. She grabbed a small pot, filled it with water, and spooned in a bit of ground coffee and more sugar than any sane person would want…and then added a bit more. Luxord shook his head and muttered something that might have been "…may as well drink maple syrup." She put it over the stove and stood impatiently, waiting for it to boil.

A silence fell over the kitchen, Noxaria not yet awake enough to strike up a conversation and Luxord too engrossed in reading his assignment to care.

Finally, Luxord took a last sip of tea and thumbed through the mission papers once more. "Well, I'm off," he sighed, summoning a portal, "See you in a few days – with any luck." And he was gone.

Noxaria frowned, wondering which of them he thought more likely to meet an end in the next few days.

Just as she was finishing her coffee, Noxaria heard the familiar _whoosh_ of a portal about to open. Swirling tendrils of shadow materialized a few feet to her right and out stepped a tall figure with long black hair streaked with silver tied back in a pony tail.

"There you are, kid!" the Organization's Number II said, grabbing Noxaria's coffee cup and downing the last of it. "Ahg!" he cried, making a face. "The hell _is_ this? Liquid sugar?!"

"I just like what I like," the girl shrugged.

"Whatever, dude," he sighed, shaking his head. "Oh, and like it or not I'm in charge of your training today."

Noxaria smiled. Xigbar had an intimidating look about him – a long, jagged scar ran across his right cheek and a black eye patch covered one of his bright yellow eyes. When she first saw him, Noxaria expected to be greeted with a gruff warning about staying out of his way, but was quite shocked to see him smile and call out to Demyx, "Hey, how's it hangin' bro? Who's the new kid?" He was the sort of man you would want as an older brother, or even a crazy uncle, and so he was definitely at the top of her list of preferred training partners.

"So, do you think today's my lucky day?" Noxaria asked, getting up from the table.

"Luck? Ha, you've been hangin' around Luxord too much," Xigbar laughed, shaking his head. "Nah, it's all about skill. You'll get it eventually."

The two headed out into the hall, then up a winding stair case. Most of the other members would have simply portaled there, but Xigbar was sympathetic to her fear of that mode of transportation.

The designated training room of the Organization was The Hall of Empty Melodies. It was a long, thin stretch of blue floor overlooked by an ornate balcony where the other members would congregate to observe sparring matches and try to pick up tips…or simply to be entertained by a one-sided fight. All the rooms in the castle had high ceilings like distorted cathedrals, but the Hall was the only room to have an actual barrier between castle and sky – thin panes of glass separated the room from the grey clouds above.

As Xigbar and Noxaria entered the room, Noxaria noted that the balcony was mercifully vacant at the moment – the other members had already seen how bad she was at fighting and were probably sick of laughing at her.

The girl grabbed her interim weapon, a simple wooden staff, from a nearby wall. It wasn't much, but it was certainly better than nothing…though today her opponent was Xigbar and, well, a staff was about as good at stopping bullets as a sponge was at stopping a flood.

Noxaria stood at the east end the room, perched on the balls of her feet, ready to attack (or more likely – run).

Xigbar casually strolled to the other end of the room and effortlessly summoned his weapons: two purple guns, six diamond-shaped rounds gleaming in each.

"Ready, kid?" he asked with a smirk. But before Noxaria could answer, before the echo of the two words had even faded, Xigbar vanished in a swoosh of white.

Noxaria dodged almost before she heard it – a small _click_ – up, left. She jumped back and a rain of glowing bullets fell where she had been standing a second before. She glanced at where the sound had come from. Xigbar was suspended in midair, _upside down_, aiming at her. Noxaria darted forward and, gripping the staff at one end, she leapt into the air and swung it at Xigbar like a bat. He vanished right before the staff touched him however, and Noxaria heard him laugh as she hit the ground, "C'mon, surprise me, kid!"

Noxaria scowled. Surprising a man who could seemingly be everywhere at once was no easy task, even for the most experienced members of the Organization.

_Click_.

She whirled around as she heard it, instinctively turning towards the sound. This was not the movement she should have made however, as turning to face a barrage of sharp projectiles did little to prevent their impact. A sharp pain went through her left arm before she threw herself to the right to prevent worse damage. Noxaria picked herself up, wincing a little, as she heard the _ch-chuck_ of Xigbar reloading his weapons and finally located him, standing upside down on the bottom of the balcony.

It only took Xigbar a couple of seconds to reload his guns and before Noxaria could even begin to think of a way to reach him, he smiled down at her and vanished. She turned wildly around, expecting to hear the click of the trigger immediately, but the silence that seeped into the room was somehow much more frightening.

Slowly turning her head, she surveyed the room high and low but there was no sight or sound of The Freeshooter. She carefully took a few steps backwards, wondering what she was supposed to – _thump_. There was something behind her. Something soft. And something cold and hard was suddenly pressing into the side of her head.

"Game over, kid," said a voice in her ear.

"Well, at least you're getting better at dodging," Xigbar said as the two walked back down the winding staircase.

"Not good enough," muttered Noxaria, clutching her arm as blood began to seep through her coat.

"Hey, it coulda been worse," Xigbar said, pointing to his eye patch.

"Yes…and it probably should have. But thanks for going easy on me," she smiled up at him.

"Well, enjoy it while it lasts," Xigbar said in a somewhat serious tone. "Xemnas is getting' kinda impatient, so things may get a little harder for you pretty soon."

"I can't wait," Noxaria sighed humorlessly.

The two came to a landing where the hallway branched left and right. Noxaria headed toward the left path, which lead to the lower levels of the castle. "I'm gonna go see Vexen about this," she called, nodding to her arm. "Thanks for your help!"

"Good luck, kid!" Xigbar called back.

Noxaria paused, remembering what Xigbar had told her earlier. "I thought you said it was all about skill…?" she asked.

"Yeah, well…for what's coming your way you'll probably need some luck, too," Xigbar replied.


End file.
